It may be easy to get sucked into the gossipy details of the hundreds of attorney disciplinary cases across the country, but one lawyer representing a recently sanctioned solo practitioner wants others to remember there’s still a person facing life-altering circumstances beneath it all.

Kevin Lee Perry, a partner at Kane Perry law firm, represented criminal and family law attorney Melissa Lynch Freeman during a series of events that ultimately led to detailed disciplinary reports—published, essentially, for the world to see. While Perry declined to discuss some of the intimate details of the allegations against Freeman, he spoke more broadly about the importance of grace and patience from the legal community as a whole.